Miami needs to extend Jai Lucas with the trickle down affect UNC opening can cause

Miami signed head coach Jai Lucas to a five-year contract when he was hired in March 2025. North Carolina firing Hubert Davis on Tuesday will have a trickle-down effect on other programs, depending on who they hire. Other programs could target Lucas in the trickle-down effect.

College head coaches who are expected to be candidates at North Carolina include Alabama's Nate Oats, Arizona's Tommy Lloyd, Connecticut's Dan Hurley, Todd Golden of Florida, T.J. Otzelberger of Iowa State and potentially Grant McCasland of Texas Tech, per Jeff Borzello of ESPN.

Other potential candidates include Boston Celtics president of basketball operations Brad Stevens and Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan. North Carolina will almost certainly hire a high-profile head coach to replace Davis.

Lucas spent his freshman season at Florida, playing under Donovan, before transferring to Texas following the 2007-08 season. Lucas began his coaching career in 2013 under Rick Barnes at Texas, where he stayed through 2020.

" I felt like this could be a special place and that's why when the job opened, I kind of did everything I could to get involved...Once I got to meet to meet (athletic director) Dan (Radakovic) and (Assistant Vice President for Athletics Development) Brian (Campbell) and (President and CEO, University of Miami and President) Joe (Echevarria) and the administration and the support system that we have at Miami, it was a no-brainer...We had great people in the building this year, with the players in the locker room and these three(Tre Donaldson, Shelton Henderson and Malik Reneau) to the right of me...that made my job easy. "

Miami head coach Jai Lucas

Jai Lucas significantly elevated Miami basketball

Miami improved from 7-24 in 2024-25 to 26-9 in 2025-26. The 19-game improvement tied an NCAA Division I record. The comments from Lucas show his commitment to Miami and the foundation he is setting. If other major programs inquire about him, he could potentially listen if they offer a huge financial commitment.

Miami is only three years removed from a regular-season ACC Championship and Final Four appearance. The Hurricanes advanced to the Midwest Regional Final in 2022. The 2022 and 2023 NCAA Tournament runs made Miami the only team to earn regional final berths in each of those seasons.

If Miami continues trending upwards, Lucas will be a major candidate for high-profile jobs. Jim Larranaga set the foundation for Miami to compete with the best programs nationally. The 2023 Final Four run included wins over Houston and Texas, who are in the 2026 Regional Semifinals.

Miami beat Auburn, Iowa State and USC to advance to the 2022 Midwest Regional Final. Auburn played in the 2025 Final Four as a one seed and Iowa State is in the Midwest Regional Final in Chicago this season, where they played Miami in 2022.

Lucas has earned an extension and restructured contract after the exceptional turnaround he led Miami to this season. With the roster he assembled for the 2025-26 season, Lucas showed he's an exceptional recruiter and program builder. Miami has a good foundation set for 2025-26.

The 2026-27 Miami roster begins with the return of forward Shelton Henderson and 2026 five-star power forward signee Caleb Gaskins. Guards Dante Allen and Tru Washington should also return. Miami needs to continue making the commitment to Lucas to ensure he stays and as he said builds something special.